Page 113 of The Bound Blood
I laugh, leaning into Nolan. “Careful. She’ll adopt you if you keep that up.”
Tamsin slaps a hand over her heart. “Already did. You two will never be free of me.”
Nolan blushes down to the collar of his shirt.
He’s still blushing when I turn to him fully, our joined hands resting warm between us. Something in my chest softens at howshyly he ducks his head, as though he’s afraid looking at me too long might burn him.
I squeeze his fingers.
He looks up through his lashes, and God, he is adorable.
“Hey,” I murmur. “I’ve missed you.”
His breath catches. “You miss me? I’ve seen you every day.”
“Mmmhmm, every second I’m not with you, I miss you.” I lean in and kiss him.
It feels like sinking into safety.
His lips part in surprise, then he kisses me back—hesitant at first, as if he’s afraid to want too much, then deeper, sweeter, melting into the moment with a tenderness that makes my chest ache. When I pull back, his eyelashes flutter, his glasses slightly crooked.
“Lindsay,” he whispers, “that was…amazing. I mean—if you wanted it to be. I wanted it to be. I didn’t expect?—”
I press a finger to his lips. “It was.”
He exhales so shakily it’s almost a laugh. “I don’t think I'm ever going to get used to kissing you.”
“Someday you will, we just have to do it more.”
Tamsin, of course, ruins the moment.
“Oh stars above,” she groans. “The cinnamon-roll energy in this corner is suffocating me. I am being smothered. I need hazard pay just to sit next to you two.”
Nolan covers his face with one hand, his voice muffled. “Please stop talking.”
Tamsin leans her elbows on her knees, lifts her hand acting as if she is holding a microphone, and she’s narrating a nature documentary. “Observe: the rare blushy warlock in his natural habitat, experiencing a kiss-induced cardiac event.”
“Tamsin,” I warn, trying not to laugh.
“He’s going to combust,” she says proudly.
“I’m not combusting,” Nolan mutters into his hands. “I am simply…processing.”
“Processing?” Tamsin snorts. “Honey, your soul left your body. I watched it ascend.”
A snort escapes me, and I rest my head on Nolan’s shoulder. “She’s not wrong, you know.”
He peeks at me between his fingers, glasses tipped at a ridiculous angle. “I’m trying to be dignified.”
“Too late for that,” Tamsin says cheerfully.
But she’s smiling—bright, open, and happy for both of us. Warmth spreads through my chest. Even with all the stress of the Veil and the fractures and the missing students, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but here. My life is better now, even with all of the danger and drama.
Nolan and I are still recovering from Tamsin’s relentless commentary when the air changes.
Tamsin’s eyes widen. “Oh no. Not again.”
And before she can even finish the thought, she drops to her knees.
